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We made it folks! The final game of the season is upon us. The A’s are set to suit up one final time this season, taking on the Astros to wrap up the year. The A’s stand at 64-97, sitting in fourth place in the AL West and with the second-worst record in the American League. That’s where they’ll sit this offseason but if the team can end the year with a win that’d send us into the offseason on a high note. Let’s finish the year with a 65th win in front of Sacramento.

As for Houston, this isn’t just any game for them. They still have not clinched a spot in the postseason as they enter today tied with the Texas Rangers at 80-81 atop the AL West. Thanks to them owning the tie breaker the Astros control their own fate: win and they’re win. The Rangers will be watching this game and rooting for our A’s, hoping to keep their playoff hopes alive. They need to pair their own win with an Astros loss to make it to October. In a way it’s up to the A’s which Texas team goes to the postseason. Which would you prefer to allow to stay alive a bit longer? Either is a bad pick.

Taking the ball today in the final to start things off is right-handed reliever Seth Johnson. That means we’re looking at a bullpen game today. Johnson as you may remember was the lone acquisition at the mid-season trade deadline, coming over from Philadelphia in exchange for outfielder Colby Thomas. Johnson has split time between the big league club and the Aviators in the two months since joining the organization, posting a 6.89 ERA in 11 appearances at the big league level. We shouldn’t expect more than an inning or two out of the righty this afternoon, and from there it’ll be all Kotsay mixing and matching.

Here’s the final A’s lineup of the 2026 season:

Not how we thought the last lineup of the season would look but six months of baseball will grind down plenty of teams. It’s been the typical lineup here down the stretch and they’ve been servicable, especially since the return of Langeliers. We’ll also get to see infielder Joshua Kuroda-Grauer one more time this afternoon, and it’s a great sign and he’ll be able to put that nasty injury he suffered fully behind him heading into winter. And another good sign, catcher Brian Serven is back in there after taking a ball of the face earlier in the week.

The Astros meanwhile, with their season on the line, have right-hander Peter Lambert taking the ball this afternoon. Lambert has been a godsend for the Astros this season. An offseason pickup from Colorado, the 29-year-old has broken out with a 3.87 ERA in a team-leading 28 starts, solidifying a shaky Astros rotation. Houston isn’t in contention or anywhere near the top of the division without his emergence, and he’s a likely option for Game Two if the Astros advance to the playoffs.

And Houston’s starting nine:

Time to finish the season. Wrap it up with a win, boys. Let’s go A’s!

Follow the Game:
Watch:
Athletics – NBCSCA

Listen:
Athletics – Talk 650 KSTE, KVMX 92.1/105.5, A’s Cast

Happy Sunday, folks! It’s the last day of the regular season (probably), and everything is weird in Red Sox world.

For starters, the game is being played in Tropicana Field due to a Nor’easter in New England. It was the right call to move the game because there’s zero chance they would have had a window to play in Boston today, but the game ultimately didn’t need to be played at all. Against all odds, the Red Sox and the Cubs are both locked into the fifth seed, so this game counts for pride and pride alone. Unless the two meet in the World Series, in which case it counts for home field advantage. Let’s not worry about that right now, though.

For other starters, Tanner Houck is back! He’s starting his first game since last May. Houck probably won’t figure into the postseason at all, but it’s nice to see him back out there.

We’ve got injury news too! Willson Contreras and Ceddanne Rafaela are both in the lineup today, a positive sign for the postseason, although I’ll be closely watching how Contreras swings as he grinds through his injury. Tyron Guerrero was also placed on the injured list, a huge blow to the bullpen ahead of the playoffs. Wyatt Olds took his spot, while Nate Eaton replaced Mickey Gasper.

If meaningless baseball at a neutral site isn’t your thing, how about games with real playoff implications? The Astros and Rangers are tied for the top spot in the American League West, with Houston owning the tiebreaker. The Astros are starting Peter Lambert, who just threw 62 pitches on Thursday. Personally, I’d rather the Rangers make the playoffs because I don’t want to see Yordan Alvarez, but pitchers taking the ball on short rest is always cool.

In the National League, the Phillies are in a tailspin but control their own destiny. They’re in with a win, but if they lose a fifth straight game and the Diamondbacks pull out a win, they’ll fall out of the playoff picture on the last day of the season. There’s some weather at play in Philadelphia as well, so that’s something to keep an eye on.

That’s a whole lot of preamble before a meaningless regular-season Red Sox game. It’s a great day to stay inside and watch all the sports, so get your TVs out, your beers in the refrigerator, and find a nice spot on the couch for the rest of the day*.

*If you don’t have other responsibilities.

First pitch at 3:05 pm on NESN and WEEI

Lineups

Texas Rangers infielder Cam Cauley has been recalled from AAA Round Rock, the team announced today. To make room for him on the active roster, the Rangers have optioned DH/catcher Logan O’Hoppe to AAA Round Rock.

Cauley gets called up due to Nicky Lopez having a foot issue that resulted in him leaving last night’s game. Cauley gives the Rangers a second reserve infielder, along with Cody Freeman.

If you didn’t realize O’Hoppe was on the roster, that’s because he was added yesterday, with Josh Jung being placed on the 15 day injured list with his fractured hand.

Robby Ahlstrom was also recalled prior to yesterday’s game, taking the place of Gavin Collyer. Collyer had been recalled on Wednesday, with Winston Santos having been sent down.

Game 162 of the 2026 baseball season has arrived, and the Phillies’ situation is clear: If they win, they make the playoffs. If they lose, they have to hope the Padres can defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks allowing the Phillies to back into the final Wild Card spot.

The good news for the Phillies is that Zack Wheeler is scheduled to start. The righthander is 13-5 with a 3.06 ERA on the season.

He’ll be opposed by Nick Martinez. The veteran righthander is wrapping up his best season with a 15-5 record and 2.94 ERA.

Game time is 3:05 PM and will be televised locally by NBCSP.

With the top wild card spot in the National League now in their hands, the San Diego Padres can turn their attention towards hosting the Chicago Cubs in their first postseason series. Friar faithful now know when they'll be able to cheer on their team, too.

MLB announced the start times for all four wild card series starting Tuesday, Sept. 29 and running through Thursday, Oct. 1. All but two matchups are set; the Houston Astros and Texas Rangers are having a mid-off to decide who will be the division winner with the worst record in 21 years, and the Philadelphia Phillies are trying to avoid a monumental collapse in the final game of the regular season to keep the Arizona Diamondbacks out.

Other than that, Red Sox-Yankees and Padres-Cubs are all set to get the 2026 postseason underway.

The Padres get the late game in every scenario, being the westernmost team in the wild card. Each of their three-game series with the Cubs will begin at 7 p.m. PT. But in the event of a Game 3, there are a couple different scenarios to look out for.

Here are the scheduled start times for Padres-Cubs, including all Game 3 scenarios for Thursday, Oct. 1:

Quite a Guardians lineup today for the hangover game:

Here’s the Royals lineup:

Let’s go, Guardians!

Sunday notes…

• AT THE TROP: Today’s game will be the Cubs’ 12th at Tropicana Field. They are 4-7, including 2-1 this year. They lost to the Rays on April 6, then beat them on April 7 and 8. It will be the 243rd game for the Red Sox at “the Trop,” where they are 116-126 vs. the Rays overall and 1-6 this year. They played there just last weekend, winning the first game and losing the next two. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• WINNING AND LOSING SERIES: This is the 25th series that the Cubs have lost. They have won 26 and split three. Last year, they were 31-19-3 in series and finished 92-70. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• NOT SCORING RUNS: The Cubs have allowed a total of 10 runs in their last four games but lost three of them. This is the 18th span this season, some overlapping, in which the Cubs allowed no more than 10 runs. It is the first in which they did not win at least two games. They won all four in five spans, three games in five more and two games in seven. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• RISPy BUSINESS: On June 16, the Cubs’ batting average for the season with runners in scoring position was .219. In the next 65 games, through Sept. 2, it was .289, raising the season average to .252. In their last 21 games, it is .185, dropping the season average to .243. (Courtesy BCB’s JohnW53)
• TODAY IN CUBS HISTORY: The Cubs sweep a doubleheader from the Pirates, 4-2 and 7-2, thus clinching the NL Central title. It happened 23 years ago today, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2003.

Cubs lineup:

Red Sox lineup:

Shōta Imanaga, LHP vs. Tanner Houck, RHP

I’m actually a bit surprised that Shōta Imanaga is starting this game, unless the plan is to have him only go a couple of innings so he could be available maybe on Thursday against the Padres.

Imanaga has had a very good September: 1.96 ERA, 0.783 WHIP in four starts covering 23 innings, with only one home run allowed. Keep up the good work, Shōta. The last time he faced the Red Sox was July 19, 2025 at Wrigley Field, where he threw seven shutout innings and struck out five.

Tanner Houck, who had a really good year for the Red Sox in 2024, had Tommy John surgery after nine starts in 2025 and has not pitched in MLB at all this year. He’s thrown eight innings in four rehab outings in the Red Sox minor leagues this year and posted a 3.38 ERA and 0.875 WHIP.

No current Cub has more than six at-bats against Houck. Dansby Swanson is 2-for-5 with a home run. The pitch chart for Houck below is from 2025.

Today’s game is on Marquee Sports Network.

Here is the complete MLB.com live streaming page for today.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Red Sox site Over The Monster. If you do go there to interact with Red Sox fans, please be respectful, abide by their individual site rules and serve as a good representation of Cub fans in general and BCB in particular.

The 2026 game discussion procedure has been changed, so please take note.

You’ll find the game preview, like this one, posted separately on the front page two hours before game time (90 minutes for some early day games following night games).

At the same time, a StoryStream containing the preview will also post on the front page, titled “Cubs vs. (Team) (Day of week/date) game threads.” It will contain every post related to that particular game.

The Live! (formerly “First Pitch”) thread will still post at five minutes to game time. It will also post to the front page. That will be the only live game discussion thread. After the game, the recap and Heroes and Goats will also live on the front page as separate posts.

You will also be able to find the preview, Live! thread, recap and Heroes and Goats in this section link. The StoryStream for each game can also be found in that section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Here we are, Braves Country. One last contest before some (afternoon, ugh) Postseason baseball at Truist Park starting Tuesday.

This is a lineup we’ve been expecting all week – one that allows the Braves to rest some of their stars. Drake Baldwin, Ronald Acuña Jr., and Michael Harris II all get watch this one from the dugout today.

Our modern iron man Matt Olson is where you expect him, though. His start today cements his fifth straight season of playing all 162 games.

Mauricio Dubón gets the start in left and will lead off today. Ozzie Albies will hit second. Austin Riley gets to be in the cleanup spot today ahead of DH Mike Yazstrzemski. Sean Murphy and Ha-Seong Kim get to move up a couple spots in the order to bat sixth and seventh, as their usual spots are taken by RF Brewer Hicklen and CF DaShawn Keirsey Jr.

For the Marlins, Griffin Conine will lead off and play right field. Javier Sanoja bumps up a couple spots to hit second and moves from third base to shortstop today. LF Heriberto Hernández drops a spot to third. Yesterday’s catcher Agustín Ramírez will hit cleanup as the designated hitter. Third baseman Graham Pauley follows. CF Esteury Ruiz remains at sixth and in center field. Deyvison De Los Santos, Jared Serna, and Brian Navarreto round out the batting order for the Fish.

First pitch for the final game of the regular season is at 3:10 pm ET.

We have reached the end of the 2026 regular season. In a couple hours, the 162-game marathon will be complete and full focus will turn to the sprint that is the playoffs. However, we still have nine innings (maybe fewer if the weather has anything to say) of regular season ball today against the Orioles. The game is not of importance to either team really, but someone will add one last digit to their final win total for the season.

Elmer Rodríguez will be the Yankees’ starting pitcher for this one, though they will need a not-yet-announced roster move to activate (probably demoting someone like Alexander Cornielle, who was just brought up yesterday for the doubleheader). The Yankees have mostly used Rodríguez as a spot starter this season, giving a couple chances to the highly rated youngster. He’s had some solid moments, but he’s mostly been below average on the year.

As for Baltimore, Shane Baz will get the start on the mound for them. Baz has a league-leading 15 losses, but he has been right around average for the season with a 4.11 ERA and 3.63 FIP.

Here’s how to catch all of today’s season-ending action, and we hope you’ll come join us in the game thread. New York has already announced that the game will not start on time. There is also not yet a confirmed lineup for the Yankees.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium – Bronx, NY

First pitch: 1:05 p.m. ET TBD (delayed)

TV broadcast: YES (NYY) | MASN (BAL)

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (NYY) | 98 Rock 97.9 FM, WBAL 1090 AM (BAL)

Streaming: Gotham Sports App, MLB.tv (out-of-market only)

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